An Unexpected Reunion
Title: : An Unexpected Reunion
Author: TalliW
Characters: Abby Maitland, Connor/Ryan
Rating: K
Disclaimer: Primeval is the property of Impossible Pictures. I write just for fun.
Acknowledgments: Thanks to the wonderful Fredbassett for beta duty.
Summary: Connor and Abby meet again after many years
AN: The credit, or rather the blame, for this story goes to lukadreaming who bunnied me with a tattooed, machine gun-waving Connor in Denial's Sunday chat recently.
Wide-eyed, Abby looked at the man who had just rescued her. The face seemed familiar but the heavily-muscled guy with his tattooed arms, who had fired a large machine gun with ease and accuracy, couldn't be Connor Temple.
"You okay?"
"Connor? Is that you? My God. How...? What happened?"
"Nice to see you, Abby. It's simple. After I was fired, I followed Becker's advice and joined the army. Military drill, some protein shakes and a lot of pumping iron can do that to a weenie. Do you like what you see? There is not an ounce of fat on my body. Everything is muscle."
Abby swallowed drily as Connor slung the machine gun over his right shoulder and flexed his arm muscles.
"Do you remember my small paunch and my squishy arse Matt and Becker used to tease me about?"
Abby nodded in confirmation.
"Well, it's gone. You can bounce a coin on it now."
Abby's eyes wandered automatically down to Connor's washboard stomach. The tight-fitting teeshirt didn't leave much to the imagination and a rush of heat shot up her neck and into her cheeks as she envisioned how those abs would ripple under her hands.
Connor smirked, as if he could sense what Abby was thinking and shifted his weight.
Standing their with one hand on his hip and the thumb of the other hooked in the belt loop of his faded jeans he was the poster boy for masculinity. Why had she never seen behind the facade of the geeky boy and recognised Connor's true qualities?
Abby couldn't help but stare until Connor adjusted the machine gun's strap on his shoulder, in the process presenting a quite realistic representation of a flying coelurosauravus on his left underarm, right next to the picture of two scuttling diictodons.
"You have Rex, Sid and Nancy tattooed on your arm?" Abby asked in surprise.
Connor gave a shrug. "I missed them and this way they are always with me."
"I didn't know you were into tatoos."
"I didn't know either. The first I got purely by accident. I was drunk and just stumbled in this tattoo shop in Chinatown. Now I have the whole bunch on my arms. Look, if I move my muscles it looks as if the gorgonopsid is really fighting with the future predator." Connor wiggled his arm muscles and grinned. "Besides my lover likes all my tattoos."
"Oh. Wow. You’ve found someone.That's great. Really great," Abby babbled. "I still feel guilty for breaking up with you. If I hadn't pressurised you too choose between me and Burton..."
"You did the right thing, Abby. Leaving me was the only way to wake me up. Otherwise I would never have questioned Philip's plans. It was my fault that I believed his lies about you having an affair with Matt. I should have trusted you."
"So you went to the army," Abby said as the silence that set in after Connor's latest sentence grew uncomfortable.
"Well, after Lester fired me I tried to return to the CMU. But they wouldn’t take me back so I tried to enrol in another university. Also without success. I quickly found out that I had been put on some sort of black list. A last gift from Burton. I traveled for a while after that, then I finally came back to England and contacted Becker. He came up with the idea of joining the army. It was only meant as a joke but somehow I liked the thought. I always fancied the uniforms and the weapons. And after facing terror birds, future predators and Philip Burton, the army life seemed almost like a walk in the park. Apparently you still work for the anomaly project."
"Someone has to take care of the animals after all. But what are you doing here? The anomalies aren't a matter of the army."
"We have a cottage just half a mile from here, on the other side of the hill. An hour ago, we were just eating lunch, our neighbour came running and yelled that a dinosaur was eating his sheep.
"So you grabbed a machine gun you just happened to have handy instead of informing the people who are best equipped to take care of prehistoric creatures," Abby said chidingly.
"I thought it wouldn't hurt to take a look and make sure that no more sheep were killed. And a machine gun is necessary equipment if you live in the countryside.You have no idea how dangerous hungry sheep can get.," Connor said with a grin. "Don't worry about it. For some particular reason that I can't tell you, I'm allowed to keep my baby at home. I even have the papers to prove it."
Abby was irritated by the way Connor gently stroked the muzzle of his machine gun. A weapons fetish seemed to be a common occurrence amongst soldiers.
"What about your lover?" Abby asked. "Doesn't she mind that you just ran out on her?" She knew she wouldn't have been tolerated such a behaviour.
"Actually, he came with me. It's the guy over there, who saved Becker from being eaten."
Connor waved to the blond man, walking towards them with a battered Becker.
Abby opened and closed her mouth several times, giving the impression of a fish trying to breathe out of water.
"Do you remember the bloke Cutter rambled on about every time he was depressive? The one who had allegedly been killed in the Permian and was a friend of that mysterious Claudia Brown? Well, I found him in Afghanistan or rather he found me. Saved my arse near Lashkar Gah when our unit was attacked by Taliban. Abby, may I introduce to you Tom Ryan, former SAS captain and now proud owner of the best greenhouse in South West England. Tom, meet Abby Maitland or is it Anderson by now?"
"Still Maitland," Abby said with a wince. The relationship she'd had started with Matt after Connor had chosen Philip Burton over her was long over.
"I see. Well, if you ever need decoration for a wedding just call us. Tom is really good at flower arranging. Learnt it from his mother who does it for a hobby. You should have seen the bridal bouquet he made for Pippa Middleton."
Connor didn't seem to notice that Abby was completely lost for words. He just rambled on until Ryan finally had enough and closed Connor's mouth quite effectively with his lips and his wicked tongue.
SAS Captain Connor Temple closed his eyes and enjoyed the passionate kiss, completely forgetting Abby and everything else around him.
With a sad smile, Abby joined Becker and his team in the car, realising that for Connor she was only a relict of a bygone time.
Before the car drove off, Abby risked a quick look at Connor's luscious posterior and wished she could be the person who was allowed to bounce a coin on it.